Hey guys,
After getting rid of yet another one of my builds I am finally getting around to a car that has a lot of history in my family. This was one of my uncle John's first cars. He had it for many years, was stolen and recovered 3 times in Philly. He drove it everyday for work for many years. My brother then got it from him as his first car and we drove together in it to high school for 2 years until he went off to college. He parked it and I picked it up (read: stole) it from him to turn it into a V8 car.
It originally was a 231 V6 NON-turboed Buick engine and served us well. In the late 90s I put a 403 Olds in it to beef it up for a few years. Then built an 11 sec 403 for it that I raced for many years. Eventually put it on the back burner when the pro-touring bug bit me...and I met my later-to-be wife.
FINALLY getting my crap together and doing a little simplifying in my life. Back in July I leased myself a '13 CTS-V and while it was absolutely amazing...I was just freaking out about every little thing...it stopped being fun for me because I love to drive stuff and drive it hard. Also because it was rather pricy for me, it precluded me from doing what I really love...build cars.
So, I decided to do a little "life-simplification". Sold my '69 Cutlass project, got rid of the V and got rid of my old truck and got brand new '12 Silverado 5.3L Z71:
I absolutely love this thing. Great economy for a daily (compared to the V...haha) and has plenty of power to tow what I need it to.
Now that my garage is ridiculously empty...but still a mess because I haven't wanted to go in there...I decided to finally pop back in and get my ass in gear on a project that sat for over 6 years...funny another as long as I have known my wife (absolutely no coincidence there........:secret2
Anyhow, here she is...a longtime love of my life, what I am calling Simplicity:
Here is how she currently sits...disgraceful:
BUT...she will live again...very soon! Here's the list:
- Junkyard 5.3L ~120K on the clock - going to ARP the easy stuff and use LS9 head gaskets
- Right now I am sticking with manual steering so I will need to come up with an aftermarket Alternator-only bracket
- LS9 Cam
- Edelbrock
Super Victor Manifold (
too good a deal to pass up)
- Procharger Corvette C6 D1SC - rebuilt 4l80e with Transgo HD2 kit
- Triple disc Yank torque Converter
- built GN rear that was set up for an NA car. Currently 3.73s. Will probably go with Moser 9inch ends so I can go with LARGE by HUGE disc brakes
- Cell and monsterous Fuel Lab pump PWM controlled.